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Ocwen’s frugal billionaire chairman took one for the team by moving to Virgin Islands, Wilbur Ross says

Ocwen Chairman Bill Erbey moved last year to the U.S. Virgin Islands, following his mortgage-servicing company’s headquarters to the Caribbean tax haven. In an interview with TheStreet.com, Wilbur Ross, the Palm Beach billionaire who serves on Ocwen’s board, says he doesn’t envy Erbey’s new digs.

Erbey lived in Palm Beach for a time before moving to a palace in Atlanta. Ross’s description of Erbey’s move to the islands:

He recently decided that it would be in the company’s interest to move it to the Virgin Islands. There are tax reasons, and such, for that. Well in order to make that really work, and not just be a phony bologna gimmick, it became necessary for him to move there. I don’t know if you spend a lot of time in St. Thomas, and I certainly don’t mean to disparage it, but there not a lot of people, who are wealthy people, who live in Palm Beach, who would welcome moving to St. Thomas. He did that simply to make his company better. And when you think about how wealthy he’s become, it’s really quite amazing.

Wilbur Ross

Shares in Erbey’s family of mortgage-servicing companies, including Ocwen, Altisource and Home Loan Servicing Solutions, have been on fire. His stake in the companies is worth $2.2 billion.

Soon after Bill Erbey and his wife Elaine moved last year to St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, they ran up a $2,000 electric bill. They turned down the air conditioning in an effort to cut costs and Erbey, who is 64 and overweight, sat around sweating.

“He lives a lifestyle that, if he lived for 2,000 years he couldn’t spend his net worth,” says Orin Kramer, general partner of hedge fund Boston Provident. “It’s one of the things that makes someone comfortable as an investor, because he’s always focused on the dark side.”

Like any frugalista, Erbey knows a good deal when he sees one. Ocwen shareholders (Erbey is the largest) last year paid $6.48 million for Erbey’s manse in Atlanta, $2.1 million more than he had paid at the peak of the bubble. Ocwen listed the home for sale last year for $6.7 million, then cut the price in January to $6.4 million.